Life and Times of J.R.R. Tolkin

One may say that J. R. R. Tolkien was one of the greatest authors the world has ever seen. Tolkien had many accomplishments throughout his life. To the world he was a very famous author who wrote The Lord of The Rings trilogy.He considered himself to be a creator. He was influenced by his African birthplace, his childhood in Sarehole, his classical education, his experinces in World War I and by the great depression. His love for languages and for the Anglo Saxon time period led him to create a language and mythology of his own.

J. R. R. Tolkien was a famous writer but to get the whole story you must start at the beginning of his life. He was not born in Europe but in South Africa (Burton 1). His full name was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien ("J. R. R. Tolkien" 1120). Tolkien's memories of Africa were slight but vivid (Dougham 3). On February 15, 1846 his father died (Dougham 3) so he and his mother and younger brother Hilary returned to England (Dougham 3). Tolkien grew up in Sarehole near Birmingham (Taylor 2), a country village surrounded by meadows and streams (Carpenter 24). It was located not far from the industrial town of Birmingham where factory chimneys belched smoke into the sky (Carpenter 25).

.Tolkien's mother died on November 14, 1904 (Dougham 4). After she died, Ronald and his brother Hilary lived with various relatives (Dougham 4). However, the local parish priest, Father Francis Morgan, took over and made sure of the boys' spiritual and material welfare. The Oratory was near their house and it soon became their real hom (Carpenter 33).

As a young boy, Tolkien attended King Edward's school (Taylor 2) where he showed an

exceptional aptitude for languages (Carpenter 33). He went on to Exeter College, Oxford in 1911 (Dougham 7). There he immersed himself in the classics, Old English, the Germanic languages, Welsh and Finnish (Dougham 4). He also played sports, joined the Essay Club, the Dialectical Society, and the debating society (Carpenter 34). He also continued to read the classics, became excited by Germanic literature and began working on his own invented languages and mythology. He graduated with a First in English Language and Literature (Taylor 3).

When World War I broke out, Ronald was in his final year at Exeter College, Oxford (Burton 3). Before leaving for France and the War, he married his childhood sweetheart Edith Bratt in June 1916 (Burton 3). Once married he took up his commission as a second lieutenant in 16 Lancanshire Fusiliers (Taylor 3). Tolkien survived the Battle of the Somme, where two of his three closest friends were killed (Taylor 3). Tolkien left the war later that year when he was struck down by trench fever (Taylor 3).

After he returned home from the war he became a professor at Oxford. Tolkien was twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford (Dougham 1). After retirement from Oxford, in 1956 Ronald and Edith moved to Bournemouth but when Edith died in 1971, he returned to Oxford (Burton 5). Tolkien died after a brief illness on the September 2, 1973 leaving his great mythological work, the Silmarillion, to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher (Burton 5). John Ronald Reuel Tolkien lived from 1892-1973 (Dougham 1).

During Tolkien's era, the Contemporary Age, which is from 1950 to the present, most writings are fairy tales about other world's. The writers of this era responded in a variety of ways to literature (Gower 7). Most writers during this time tended to be dramatists (Gower 7). One other author of this era included J. K. Rowling who wrote and is still writing